David Brabham to pay Silverstone tribute to his father

04/06/2014NEWS STORY

David Brabham, son of the late Sir Jack Brabham, has confirmed that he will participate in the parades featuring British Grand Prix winning cars at this year's event.

The three parades - one scheduled for each day of the three-day event - will transport fans and drivers back to a bygone era, as a host of F1 legends are reunited with the cars they drove to British Grand Prix victory.

David Brabham is the latest driver to confirm his support and will be driving in all three parades. David, a Le Mans 24 Hours winner in 2009, will drive his legendary father's Cooper Climax T53 from 1960, the same model as the car Sir Jack drove to victory at the 1960 British Grand Prix (pictured) at Silverstone, and to World Championship glory that year.

His participation in the parades will be a touching tribute to his late father, a much-loved and popular figure in the F1 paddock. Sir Jack started out as a Royal Australian Air Force flight mechanic before he ran his own engineering firm and started racing midget cars. He moved to the UK to continue his racing and became part of the Cooper team, building and racing their cars. He contributed to the design of the Cooper cars that he won the 1959 and 1960 world championships in, before establishing his own Brabham marque in 1961. He then went on to win the championship for the third time in 1966, becoming the first and only driver to win in a car of his own manufacturer.

"It will be a great honour for me to drive one of my father's historic and iconic 1960 Coopers in the 50th Grand Prix parades," said David. "Jack had tremendous success at Silverstone and he was a Vice President of the BRDC for many years, so it's an event I will be really looking forward to."

Joining Brabham in the parades will be three-time champion and two-time British Grand Prix winner Sir Jackie Stewart, who has already been announced to drive his 1969 British Grand Prix winning Matra MS80.

The 2014 Grand Prix will be the 50th to be held at Silverstone since Luigi Villoresi won the first ever event on 02 October 1948, two years before the inauguration of the FIA Formula One World Championship in 1950.

Tickets for the 2014 event are available from £65 and are on sale 24 hours a day, seven days a week at Silverstone.co.uk or by calling 0844 3728 300.